I hope you've seen and heard how powerful dynamics processors can be when used effectively.…They have the ability to make tracks come alive, providing power and strength.…But the same tools that can make a track stand out can also destroy it.…Too much compression can take the life out of otherwise lively, brilliant tracks,…making them sound weak and dull.…Here are a couple overall concepts to keep in mind when deciding how much is…too much compression.…Just as a compressor can exaggerate a signal's transient response, making it…sharper or snappier,…it can just as easily take this away.…

Remember, loud is only relative to quiet and hard is only relative to soft.…If you push too hard, you can actually flatten out a track's transient response,…making it sound flat and lacking punch.…Dynamic differences are what make sound and music move us.…They're what make the speaker cones move and our chest thump to the beat of a loud woofer.…You want to control your dynamics, not obliterate them.…Remember, when increasing a signal's average loudness and reducing its…

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Author

Updated

1/10/2014

Released

12/22/2011

In this first installment of the Foundations of Audio series, author Brian Lee White shows how to improve the sound of a mix with compressors, limiters, gates, de-essers, and other dynamic processors. The course explains the fundamentals of sound waves, and amplitude, explores common compressor controls, and shows how to eliminate unwanted noise using gates and expanders. The course also demonstrates best practices in compression and limiting in a variety of audio applications and covers sculpting the attack and decay of individual notes with transient shapers and applying frequency specific dynamics control with multiband compressors. Exercise files accompany the course and include special Get in the Mix session files.